With Buddy passing 900 goals, it won't be long before he goes past Lloyd's career mark of 926.
Which got me thinking how the trajectory of their respective careers have lined up.
Buddy has kicked 42 in 13 games this year, so putting him in for 65 for 2018 (the same average for the rest of the season plus two finals), actually puts him on 925, just one short of Lloyd.
There's a lot of similarities between the two great goalkickers of the past ~20 years.
Buddy started in 2005, ten years after Lloyd in 1995. Quite remarkably for a big man, he played 20 games in his first season, kicking 21 goals. Lloyd played just the 5 games for 7 goals.
Buddy was a stunning instant hit, kicking 73 in his third year and 113 in his fourth. Lloyd started to get going at a similar rate but didn't really reach the same heights until his fourth year, where he kicked 70 goals, followed by 87 goals in his fifth.
At this stage of their careers is perhaps where the different styles of footy kicked in. Clarkson immediately set about lowering Buddy's share of Hawthorn's scoring to make for a more unpredictable spread. Ten years earlier however, Sheedy was operating in a simpler time and had no need to do this. Buddy kicked 67 and 64 goals in the next two years, while Lloyd kicked 109 and 105.
After their seventh year in the league (2001 / 2011), they end up basically level on goals and remain remarkably similar for many years to come, until Buddy moves to Sydney.
Lloyd continues with some huge hauls until injury hits in 2006, when his season is over after 3 games and 13 goals. This gives Buddy the chance to catch up.
Lloyd returns with a couple of bags of 60+, but is not quite the goal machine he once was. Changes to the modern game are kicking in too, with lower scores and less individual goalkickers. Lloyd is done in 2009.
Buddy however charges on with remarkable durability and consistency, and really doesn't look to be slowing down. He's going to end up with a huge haul.
This is amazing when you consider the widely-held belief that it's much harder for one individual to kick huge tallies in today's footy: Buddy is going at just as good a clip as an all-time great like Lloyd was 10 year ago. Buddy has completely defied the modern trend.
Lloyd ended on 926 goals from 270 games in 15 seasons. With my assumptions on the rest of this year, Buddy will be on 925 goals from 291 games in 14 seasons... and still has a way to go. He's a stunning story of durability and consistency, who has remained at the top of the game for perhaps longer than any other player in history - for the last 12 seasons now he's never played less than 17 games, and has been the premier spearhead in the league. And he's still as fit as ever.
Anyway, there is no real point to my post. I just love big goalkickers and looking at their careers and numbers, and thought others might be interested.
Which got me thinking how the trajectory of their respective careers have lined up.
Buddy has kicked 42 in 13 games this year, so putting him in for 65 for 2018 (the same average for the rest of the season plus two finals), actually puts him on 925, just one short of Lloyd.
There's a lot of similarities between the two great goalkickers of the past ~20 years.
Buddy started in 2005, ten years after Lloyd in 1995. Quite remarkably for a big man, he played 20 games in his first season, kicking 21 goals. Lloyd played just the 5 games for 7 goals.
Buddy was a stunning instant hit, kicking 73 in his third year and 113 in his fourth. Lloyd started to get going at a similar rate but didn't really reach the same heights until his fourth year, where he kicked 70 goals, followed by 87 goals in his fifth.
At this stage of their careers is perhaps where the different styles of footy kicked in. Clarkson immediately set about lowering Buddy's share of Hawthorn's scoring to make for a more unpredictable spread. Ten years earlier however, Sheedy was operating in a simpler time and had no need to do this. Buddy kicked 67 and 64 goals in the next two years, while Lloyd kicked 109 and 105.
After their seventh year in the league (2001 / 2011), they end up basically level on goals and remain remarkably similar for many years to come, until Buddy moves to Sydney.
Lloyd continues with some huge hauls until injury hits in 2006, when his season is over after 3 games and 13 goals. This gives Buddy the chance to catch up.
Lloyd returns with a couple of bags of 60+, but is not quite the goal machine he once was. Changes to the modern game are kicking in too, with lower scores and less individual goalkickers. Lloyd is done in 2009.
Buddy however charges on with remarkable durability and consistency, and really doesn't look to be slowing down. He's going to end up with a huge haul.
This is amazing when you consider the widely-held belief that it's much harder for one individual to kick huge tallies in today's footy: Buddy is going at just as good a clip as an all-time great like Lloyd was 10 year ago. Buddy has completely defied the modern trend.
Lloyd ended on 926 goals from 270 games in 15 seasons. With my assumptions on the rest of this year, Buddy will be on 925 goals from 291 games in 14 seasons... and still has a way to go. He's a stunning story of durability and consistency, who has remained at the top of the game for perhaps longer than any other player in history - for the last 12 seasons now he's never played less than 17 games, and has been the premier spearhead in the league. And he's still as fit as ever.
Anyway, there is no real point to my post. I just love big goalkickers and looking at their careers and numbers, and thought others might be interested.
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